As word spread like wildfire over the San Antonio Spurs reportedly set to chuck Richard Jefferson and his albatross of a contract using the amnesty provision in the upcoming new CBA, the Spurs also have been working tirelessly at finding a suitable replacement at small forward.

And while it seems free agent Caron Butler might have the inside track, Josh Howard also met with San Antonio and according to him, the Spurs told him they want him in black and silver.

“Nice meeting. They let me know, expressed that they want me to be there. That’s about it,” Howard said of the Spurs. “I know San Antonio is an A1 organization, as far as everything they do. It’s kind of a mirror image of Dallas or vice versa. I know everything down there is cool.”

Should Howard decide to join San Antonio, the earliest San Antonio can make an offer is this Friday. But Howard does have other suitors namely the Washington Wizards (team he played with the past two seasons), and Chicago Bulls.

And when the Spurs dump RJ and his bloated contract, the Spurs would be able to hand Howard their $5 million mid-level exception.

Now the question is which player would be the better fit in San Antonio? Butler? Howard? I am sure this is a win-win situation for San Antonio and noth can play in the half-court offense as they did in Dallas. A system RJ struggled with.

And if Howard was having second thoughts about joining the Spurs, leave it to Manu Ginobili to act as recruiter for the Spurs in a chance meeting with Howard at the Spurs practice facility.

Howard said Ginobili, whom he faced many times as a member of the Dallas Mavericks, stopped him to talk and said, “Hey what a coincidence? We used to have a lot of battles. I said, ‘Yeah and now we’re on the same team – maybe.’ ”

What do you have to say Spurs fans? Which player do you think will be the better fit with San Antonio?